MasukChapter Thirty-Four - ViralThe campaign drops Monday morning, and by the time I get to school, it's already everywhere.My phone won't stop buzzing. Notifications stacked on top of notifications, people tagging me in the same six photos over and over, the forehead-to-forehead shot getting reposted the most, captioned with things like "the chemistry is UNREAL" and "wait why is this giving real couple energy" and, from an account with about half a million followers I've never heard of, "rival schools but make it romance novel.""Okay, so." Ashley slides into the seat next to me at lunch, phone already out, grinning like she's been waiting all weekend to say this. "You and Zane Volkov are apparently the internet's new favorite couple. Love that no one is hating whew. How does it feel to be a trending topic?""Don't.""I'm just saying. People are writing essays about your chemistry. Actual essays, Ava. Someone did a whole breakdown of your eye contact in slide four.""I'm aware.""You lo
Chapter Thirty-Three - NewlywedsThe make-up artist attacks my face like she's got a personal vendetta against my under-eye circles, dabbing concealer with the kind of aggressive precision that makes my eyes water."Rough morning?" she asks, not really expecting an answer, already moving on to contouring before I can think of a good lie."Something like that."Hair takes another forty minutes, loose waves pinned back on one side, soft enough to look effortless even though I watched three different products go into it. By the time they're done I barely recognize myself in the mirror, polished in a way that feels like armor, which I need, considering what just happened in that holding room twenty minutes ago.Then wardrobe hits me with the actual bomb."So, slight change of plans," the wardrobe assistant says, wheeling out a completely different rack than the one I stole clothes from last night. "New concept came down from creative. We're doing a couples theme now. Newlyweds."I stare a
Chapter Thirty-Two - I hate youDelphine arrives just after ten, sweeping through the studio doors in a cream trench coat that screamed luxury, air-kissing my mom on both cheeks like nothing at all happened, like her daughter didn't personally sabotage an entire professional set less than twelve hours ago.Zane's right behind her.I see him before I mean to, before I've had a chance to prepare my face into something neutral, and my stomach does something traitorous and stupid at the sight of him. He's in a plain black sweater, sleeves shoved up his forearms, hair pushed back like he didn't even try and somehow it still works anyway, and for one horrible second I actually forget that the last thing he said to me was nobody likes a thirsty bitch.I don't say a word to him. I turn and walk straight into an empty side room off the main studio, some kind of holding space with a couch and a mirror and absolutely nothing to distract me from the fact that my heart is currently doing something
Chapter Thirty-One - MissingI wake up feeling like a completely different person. Rested. Smug. Genuinely thrilled with myself, which is a novel sensation after the week I've had."You're... chipper," my mom says at breakfast, watching me hum while I pour cereal like I don't have a single problem in the world. "Yesterday you were threatening to fake a medical emergency to get out of this shoot. Now you're humming show tunes over your Cheerios.""I'm just embracing the day, Mom.""Mm." She narrows her eyes at me over her coffee, clearly not buying it, but she doesn't push, mostly because we're already running late and she's got a curling iron somewhere upstairs calling her name.We pull up to the studio forty minutes later, and I feel practically buoyant walking through the doors, riding the high of a job well done, right up until the exact moment Odessa the stylist comes power walking toward us with an expression like the building is actively on fire."They're gone," she says, breath
Chapter Thirty - Breaking and Entering, Sort Of"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ashley says, slower this time, like she's giving me a chance to catch up."If you're thinking we go destroy the set before tomorrow, then yes. I'm thinking exactly what you're thinking.""I was going to say we prank call the studio and cancel it, but sure. Let's commit several crimes instead.""It's not a crime. It's sabotage. There's a difference.""There is not a difference, Ava.""Are you coming or not?"She sighs, long and dramatic, the kind of sigh that means she's already grabbing her keys. "I'm coming. Pick me up in twenty. And wear something you don't mind going to jail in."Getting into Volkov Beauty's studio building should be hard. It is not hard. That's the thing about being the kind of person whose face the security guard has known since she was in diapers."Evening, Miss Prescott." The guard at the front desk barely looks up from his phone, waving us through the turnstile like it's any
Chapter Twenty Nine - PigtailsI call Ashley, phone pressed to my ear while I pace a hole into my carpet."Okay, you need to sit down for this," I say the second she picks up."I'm literally already sitting down. What's wrong?""My mom just told me I have to do a photoshoot. With Zane."There's a pause. "Zane. As in Zane Volkov. As in the actual captain of West Rivers, our biggest rival, the guy your entire school currently has beef with, that Zane?""That's the one.""Ava.""I know.""What photoshoot?""The Volkov Beauty campaign. The one I turned down months ago , which Rita is supposed to do." I flop back onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. "His mom set it up. Apparently she thinks we're fighting about something and decided the solution is forcing us to stand in front of a camera together.""Are you fighting about something? i know your parensts are friends and you guys hate each other but why woud they do anything about it now ?""That's not the point right now.""It's a little b







